You cry too much, it makes you look weak. You’re too soft spoken, no one will take you seriously. Stop overthinking everything, it’s not that serious. You’re shy. You’re a slow learner…
What we entertain enters us without us even knowing. Things that intended no harm, but made an impression. An impression only realized through adulting. Things that we’ve used to define ourselves and how big or small life can be. I’ve harbored shame without even knowing. I’ve felt helplessly bonded to titles given to me by strangers and loved ones alike.
Freedom wasn’t always a happy place for me. Freedom didn’t look the way I had imagined it. It didn't look or feel free. Then I humbly learned what freedom really was. Life got brighter when I actively began to work towards that new definition. All it took was intent.
Freedom is defining who you are. To define who you are, you should really get to know who you are. And to do that, you must face accountability. The thing is, accountability is best friends with shame. And shame hurts. Shame makes you want to hide from yourself. From your truth. Shame made me hide from myself.
But who suffers when we hide? Each of us suffer if we allow freedom and shame to bully us into who we were told to be. How we were told to act. We win when we press forward despite uncertainty, and when we welcome accountability for what it really is. Our teacher.
Teachers open up our world to the unknown. Give yourself the freedom and the permission to be the best teacher you’ll ever know.
Love,
Nia